Until recently, I used to be never excited by the thought of living longer than average. Perhaps that is because I’ve observed time and time again that old age will not be exactly appealing. I’ve seen grandparents, great aunts and uncles, and old family friends face what looks as if an excessive mountain of discomfort, illness, and, ultimately, death.
Lifespan, healthspan, wealthspan
Of course, I desired to live long enough to have grandchildren, rejoice some significant anniversaries with my spouse, have a measurable positive impact on my profession and community, and check off a whole lot of items on my bucket list, but the thought of living to, say, 100 was not a goal. Then two things happened that modified my mind:
First, surprise! My wife and I received an unexpected blessing in the shape of a baby girl shortly after we celebrated our forty fourth anniversary.th and 48th Birthdays. Now two of us are in college and one continues to be in diapers, so I even have to remain here if I would like to enjoy the connection with all these would-be grandchildren.
Then a friend introduced me to a straightforward truth about longevity. He noticed that I care deeply about my personal health and well-being –Quality of life – and if I maintained this focus indefinitely, the likely result could be a longer life too. Huh, good point.
I’m now deep in a rabbit hole of books and podcasts on health and longevity – like Survive by Dr. Peter Attia, Eat to live by Dr. Joel Fuhrman, How to not die by Dr. Michael Greger and Forever young by Dr. Mark Hyman – and the overall conclusion is that the goal will not be only Life Span, it’s Health Span which Peter Attia defines as follows: “… the period of time in life spent in good health, free from chronic diseases and disabilities of aging.”
“The goal is not just to live longer, but to live better for longer,” Attia concludes. “It’s about extending the time we live in which we are free from disease, maintain our physical and mental capabilities, and continue to participate fully in life.”
Now I get it. If you stay healthy, you’ll need the next quality of life, and if you’ve gotten the next quality of life, you will likely live longer. and luxuriate in it more. All right, I’m in.
As I learned and grappled with these concepts, I also realized that there may be the same dichotomy in how we take a look at financial planning—particularly in relation to the concept of retirement or financial independence, the period of life when one will not be depending on work for financial support.
We have been so focused on living expenses—the length of retirement and never running out of cash—that we’ve got neglected the standard of existence we’re sustaining financially. My colleague and co-founder of SignatureFD, Doug Liptakcalls it the “96 percent problem,” suggesting that financial planners have long been so focused on getting their clients to live to tell the tale as little as possible (4 percent or less of their very own nest egg) that we’ve got did not help people fully benefit from the wealth they’ve worked so hard for.
One of essentially the most extreme versions of it is a movement I even have mixed feelings about—the FIRE (Financial Independence, Retire Early) movement. FIRE followers save as much as possible as early as possible to be able to grow to be financially independent sooner—often a long time earlier—than the standard retirement age of 65. I generally agree with the view that our time is more useful than our money (and the things we should buy with it) and that financial independence—working only because you ought to, not because you’ve gotten to—is a great thing. But I’ve observed that the majority FIRE followers can only handle the numbers by living an almost ascetic lifestyle.
Sure, many more people could count themselves as “financially independent” in the event that they lived at or below the poverty line – but what is the point? Why not devote yourself to work that has inner meaning and that you just find fulfilling, especially if it lets you afford a few of the finer things in life that you just really enjoy?
Please do not get me incorrect: If you absolutely love the minimalist lifestyle and “retiring” in your 30s or 40s is your true life goal, then I’m rooting for you. But I don’t think financial independence is inherently useful, any greater than a selected net price is – it’s what we do with our money and time that provides them value.
And that, I feel, is the purpose. Wealth is price nothing until we activate it.
We activate wealth – including our time, influence, money, relationships and health – by applying a Purpose to him (them). A great starting exercise is to provide our wealth-building strategies a straightforward label – is their purpose 1) live enjoy life to the fullest, 2) protect every part you’ve gotten worked so hard for, 3) grow the impact in your assets today and in the long run, or 4) give for the people and causes that matter most to you.
Through this conscious goal setting, we will enjoy not only financial livelihood (lifespan) but in addition financial well-being (healthspan).
